_
Examining several of these very curiously figur'd bodies (which are
commonly thought to be Stones form'd by some extraordinary _Plastick
virtue_ _latent_ in the Earth itself) I took notice of these particulars:
First, that these figured bodies, or stones, were of very differing
substances, as to hardness: some of Clay, some Marle, some soft Stone,
almost of the hardness of those soft stones which Masons call Fire-stone,
others as hard as Portland stone, others as hard as Marble, and some as
hard as a Flint or Crystal.
Next, they were of very differing substances as to transparency and colour;
some white, some almost black, some brown, some Metalline, or like
Marchasites; some transparent like white Marble, others like flaw'd
Crystal, some gray, some of divers colours; some radiated like those long
_petrify'd drops_, which are commonly found at the _Peak_, and in other
_subterraneous caverns_, which have a kind of pith in the middle.
Thirdly, that they were very different as to the manner of their outward
figuration; for some of them seem'd to have been the substance that had
fill'd the Shell of some kind of Shel-fish; others, to have been the
substance that had contain'd or enwrapp'd one of those Shels, on both
which, the perfect impression either of the inside or outside of such
Shells seem'd to be left, but for the most part, those impressions seem'd
to be made by an imperfect or broken Shell, the great end or mouth of the
Shell being always wanting, and often times the little end, and sometimes
half, and in some there were impressions, just as if there had been holes
broken in the figurating, imprinting or moulding Shell; some of them seem'd
to be made by such a Shell very much brused or flaw'd, insomuch that one
would verily have thought that very figur'd stone had been broken or brused
whilst a gelly, as 'twere, and so hardned, but within in the grain of the
stone, there appear'd not the least sign of any such bruse or breaking, but
onely on the very uttermost superficies.
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